"And it will always happen that he..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli
And it will always happen that he who is not your friend will request your neutrality and he who is your friend will ask you to declare yourself by taking up arms. And irresolute princes, in order to avoid present dangers, follow the neutral road most of the time, and most of the time they are ruined.
More by Niccolo Machiavelli
“....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.”
“Whoever takes it upon himself to establish a commonwealth and prescribe laws must presuppose all men naturally bad, and that they will yield to their innate evil passions as often as they can do so with safety.”
“So long as the great majority of men are not deprived of either property or honor, they are satisfied.”
More on Neutrality
“A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils”
“Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side.”
“One luminary clock against the skyProclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.”